Variety reported on March 2, 2009 that Christy Walton had set up a production company called Tenaja Productions to finance a film adaptation of Bless Me, Ultima, a popular Chicano coming of age novel. Filming wrapped in Santa Fe, New Mexico in late 2010. The film premiered at the Plaza Theatre in El Paso, Texas on September 17, 2012 and received a general release in February 2013.